The first phase of the proposed research will involve a reanalysis of an existing 28-year longitudinal study of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a sample of older Danish adults. The new analysis will evaluate the role of the personality characteristic of hostility in the development of CVD. Results of the first phase will be used to design measures to be included in future data collection from this sample that is planned for 1994. Past research has provided evidence that high levels of hostility have adverse health consequences, including coronary heart disease and premature mortality. The proposed analyses will extend this line of research in a number of ways. The size and representativeness of the sample, the length and completeness of follow-up, and the broad array of medical data available will provide the opportunity for the most definitive evaluation of the health consequences of hostility that has been performed thus far. The analyses will address questions that have received little attention, including the relationship between hostility and CVD in women, the generality of previously observed findings to samples of older adults, and the ability of hostility measures to predict the incidence of hypertension. The relationships of hostility to intermediate outcomes relevant to CVD health (e.g. cholesterol, catecholamines) will also be assessed. The proposed work will be performed during three visits to Denmark, Primary analyses will be conducted during a six-month visit in 1993. A one-month visit in 1994 is planned to address data collection issues and questions raised during the writing of reports of the first phase. The final three-month visit in 1995 will be needed to integrate the results of the 1994 data collection into the project.